cdnski12

Thais and amny other Asian Cultures, believe that Blond Haired White/Light skin coloured people may be angels. Mere Proximity to such "spirits", may result in good luck. My small blond Caucasian Nieces were constantly harrassed in China for the 1st 10 years. Old Chinese ladies constantly tried to rub their hair. The girls were fluent in 2 Chinese Dialects, so were able to foist them off. My bro told me, that the local bus drivers frequently would not accept money from the small blond girls. They travelled for free for a considerable time.

Kudos to the Thai Taxi Man. A few years ago, I was at a small hotel in Siem Reap, Cambodia. We had a an 8 hr bus ride from Phnom Phen and a hot taxi ride from the distant bus terminal. The hotel had a very inviting pool, so the Thai GF & I dropped our gear in the room, grabbed a quick shower and were getting out our swim suits, when there was a knock on the door. A flustered desk clerk insisted we return to the booking desk, as there was a "PROBLEM" with my Visa Payment. I was really irritated, because I always pay my Visa Balances, so there should not have been a problem. The Cambodian Hotel Clerks generally speak very good English, so I was happy that the Hotel Accountant realized a clerk had mistakenly added an extra "0" to the $100 USD Invoice. WOW!! They cancelled the Visa Charge and then ran my card again. i had a nervous day, until I could confirm via Internet banking that my Visa Account wasn't charged $1000. I'd never have noticed until I got home a few months later. Now, I really check my invoices. Interestingly, that was one of the very few times the GF didn't check the Invoice. She was a Book & Time Keeper for various Construction Companies, when she was younger. She is very good with Numbers and Financial Calculations. She says that it is very common to fudge Thai Invoices. Payees seldom notice. A good practice, is to always check your Bills & Invoices. She always grabs my tips and cuts them at least in half, but always insists we tip Hotel Room staff.

A good report ESTRADA! My TGfd regularly eats dancing krung (shrimp) when we go to the beaches near Pattaya. She gets sick about 35% of the time. I won't touch it. Her extended family annually pumps out their various farm irrigation ponds, which flow into a nearby river in Issan. Then they jump into the muck and catch fish and frogs. I set up the camp and start the campfires. I even eat the cooked catch. All the local farms are on septic and the fields rannually flood. Fish migrate into the ponds from the adjacent river when it floods. Needless to say, these ponds are full of contaminated water. No one ever gets sick from eating these fish, at least not in the past 5 years, when I've been there. It's a Total Thai Party c/w sound system, dancing, camping, cooking & eating. The 6" turbine irrigation pumps really move water & the odd fish. It's fun to watch the family members, when they come across the odd "Fish Snake", a Nhu Saam Liam or a small Cobra. A lot of fun & excitement. The kids go wild.

I'm surprised that the infection has not spread farther. I see a local soi bus passsing along our Soi, picking up the local school children, i/c the extended family kids. They squash onto the bus, girls sitting on each others laps, athletic boys clinging onto the roof, as the School Taxi careens 8.5 km into the nearest town schools. Colds, flus and other viruses spread like wild fires. I see kids hacking & coughing on the buses. Several of the extended family children bring home virelent flus. It's bad enough travelling on local buses, but the School Taxi Buses are a real germ Generator!

We ferangs forget how much animosity has existed between Thais & & Cambodians for 1000 years. The course of History favored one nation over the other many times. Both sides are very sensitive to the border issues. It will probably carry on for another thousand years. History relentlessly marches on ... always overshadowed by the rapacious northern behemoth, squatting over it's southern border ... contemplating when it will be useful to simply march south and take over these Aesean Countries. Exceptt those pesky Vietnamese put up a strong show in 1979 ... I digress ...

Fortunately they appear to have been bad shots. Possibly a few of the boys having a drinking party and letting off a little steam?

My airplane from Narita landed @ "Swampy" on Sept 4, 2011. There was a massive thunder storm, c/w enormous lightening bolts and very heavy rain. "Too dangerous to pull into the terminal", said the Pilot. We sat there for 20 minutes, enduring 2 lightening hits very near the airplane. Finally we de-planed into 6" of water and onto a bus, which took us to an access door. The only good thing, was that we didn't have to walk the usual 1.5km hike to Immigration ... which was a pleasant change from previous visits. I squelched my way thru immigration in my soggy sports shoes to meet my Thai Terak in LOS.

Seems strange the American autjorities let a criminal on the run into USA while Julian Assange is being hounded for telling the honest truth

Ah yes; but the NYSE is full of rich crooks, so another one is not a bother for the Good ole US of A. Maybe Taksin will be taking a refresher course @ Fanny Mae & Freddy Mack. Julian Assange is a dastardly criminal, for proving the whole Iraq War was a giant scam by Republican Party Insiders, as a way for them (especially Dick Chaney) to make gross amounts of money very quickly. A "few" dead US Soldiers and 2.5 Million Iraquis are of little consequence to US Politicans..

$68.4K USD / 44K GBP /55.8 EURO / 2.2MM ThB? Anyone with that much money in a room in Thailand is asking for serious trouble. I'm amazed the "Girls" didn't arrange for his execution. Sounds like an insurance job to me. Even a Thai Policeman would be severely tempted to do a Dirty!

I hope the English profs have better accents than my UK Golf Buddies. Sometimes I can only understand every 3rd word. The Pommie accents tend to increase in direct proportion to the number of Beers consumed.

I would be more interested to know the level of E Coli on all Thai Foods. Since most small towns & villages have septic systems, anytime it rains, the water flooding spreads the Coli Bacteria everywhere. I'm always amazed @ Thai's eating "Jumping Krong" (shrimp), whenever I visit a Thai Beach. I told my Thai GF not to eat it, because the shrimp are grown in sewer infested swamp/field water. She never listens to me, so she gets sick 50% of the time.

LOS ... the next Testing Ground for Automobile Floatability. See Aqua Industrial Estates in BKK!

I suspect the bigger problem was that he didn't pass on large portion of the money to with his superiors and they want their share of the Kitty.

The English Grammer in the Article is sub-standard. This should be interesting. Young, talented, probably attractive Farang Men, let loose on Thai High Schools. There will be some hot "Tutoring" Sessions in the School Medical Offices.

Them "Snakes in the Grass" gotta protect their investments.

Bin dere dun dat. I finally concluded it was much easier & cheaper to get a new Thai GF; than get a Tourist Visa for my 1st Thai GF. Used to be easy, but now much harder and you just puke money out to the Visa Companies. All in all, it is easier to find a new Thai GF than jump thru the the "Eye" of the Western Country Visa Routine. For 100k ThB / $10K USD, you can easily find a new Thai GF. Treat the current GF well, but make a clean break. Take care for disgruntled Family Members. I had 30 people screaming at me, when I pulled up stakes in 2011. It was a bit scary. I did give her about 15k ThB in compo. I figured she deserved that much.

I do not know much about geology, so speaking as a layperson I would say that after years of sucking oil, natural gases and the like out of the earths core would be having some effect. A little like letting air out of a balloon and something has to eventually give. I am sure that there are a number of people on here who have already solved the bigbang theory who will have all the answers.

If the above were true, then Saudi Arabia a& Texas would have massive sink holes. Oil & Gas are generally foundin Porous Rocks, such as sand stone. The rock structure doesn't dissappear. The Hyrocarbons in the Porous rock structures is normally replaced by ground water, carbon dioxide or other Hydrocarbon Gases. The well boreholes generally (but not always ) do not collapse. A significant portion of the upper well bore is cased with Steel Pipe, cemented in place.

OI ...FOUND a fast fingered frenchie.

Why would he bother to return to LOS? Tinsley obviously is a few bricks short of a load.

Hard to believe people still fall for these Financial Scams. 65% return on investment is rediculous, unless you hit oil or find a big gold mine. Nevertheless; I read that almost every "noble" family in Europe and of course the Icelandic Govt .. fell for the Sub Prime Mortgage Funds; where they were supposedly guaranteed 12% returns in investments. That i/c the UK, Dutch, German, French, Scandanavian, Spanish Royal families. With all their access to expertise, why would they invest in such dubious enterprizes? The old "GREED" principle at work!

I wonder how many Bar Ladies file Thai Income Tax Statements?

Drunk & wandering around @ 4:00 am .... not a good combination anywhere in the world. Sometimes a taxi ride is a very cheap form of insurance ... but maybe not in Phuket!

Canadian Oil Refiners will push up our local prices. That happens everytime there is a Oil Refinery Fire anywhere in the world; even though Canada has huge surpluses of Oil. Oil companies & Governments will always "Sock to Ya" on any spurious excuse, to line their pockets with money.

That is why I never take a night bus anywhere. Took a sleeper bus from Hoi An to Da Nang in Vietnam. First and only time. Driver was good, but a maniac in the mpuntains. We were passing motor bikes going up and down very steep mountains. ... in the dark. I normally take long distance buses in daytime, except in western countries; where the drivers are normally changed every 8 hours & the buses are (probably) mechanically checked. I have seen many abandoned buses in North America, so they are not all that mechanically sound either.

I spent several days running around Udon looking for Screws, Washers & Lag Bolts. Everything was called LEK. Drove me nuts. I think Lek = Iron (common bar girl name).